1. Technical Field
The invention relates to networks and networking. In particular, the invention relates to information diffusion within networks having a plurality of nodes.
2. Description of Related Art
Broadly defined, a network is an interconnected group or system of entities. In particular, the entities of the group or system are interconnected to share or distribute data or more generally information among the entities that are members of the network. Networks are found in a wide variety of fields, disciplines and situations including, but not limited to, biology (e.g., neural networks, social networks, business networks, etc.), electrical systems (e.g., power distribution grids), electronic systems (e.g., circuit boards, integrated circuits, radio and television networks, etc.) and computer systems (e.g., local area networks, computer-based social networks, the Internet, etc.).
Information or data distribution in these and other networks often may be modeled by diffusion or, more precisely, as a diffusion process. That is, information or data often moves through a network in a manner that resembles diffusion. It can be important to control the distribution of data or information or equivalently to control ‘diffusion’ within a network. For example, it may be useful to increase diffusion of information in a network that may have suffered a disruption of connectivity. In another example, it may be important to limit the spread of information (i.e., to decrease diffusion) in a network, for example, where that information may be disruptive or even harmful to member entities of the network.